Tokyo Game Show 2014
this won't be a succinct post like my previous news stories. but yes, after nearly a year, i am back. i did manage to get to japan, but this post isn't about that.
i have never been to a games event like Tokyo Game Show, or E3, or anything simular. i was offered the chance to do interviews at them but i never had the means, money, or both to actually go. but Tokyo Game Show was a hour or two in Chiba, yeh not actually in Tokyo or even close to the Tokyo boundaries...but Chiba game show lacks a certain sense of grandeur.
i went on the first public day, Saturday 20th...and wow...it left an impression for sure. it really turn out how i expected in some ways. i may not have been to a show before, but i've watched several on sites like GameSpot over the years to get some idea how it would be. i don't regret going, i will probably go again next year. just a word of advice, it's not a easy day out and don't be surprised if your leaving sooner than you think.
lets get the obvious thing out of the way. it is busy, there are alot of people there. this is just one of the queues to get into the first building. i had already been in this queue for maybe 30 minutes and it would be maybe another hour before i get into the show. the first building isn't the show itself, they check your tickets, you go down to the food court/lottery area and there was a Alienware stage event taking place.
the stage show took place next to the exit to the main Tokyo Game Show area. i didn't regonise the game they were playing whilst we were waiting for the show to open and for them to let us in, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it and they didn't seem to mind people taking videos and pictures. unfortunately, this was not common throughout the show. more often than not, you were not able to take pictures or videos and there was certainly staff on the look out to stop you if you do.
but the wait was long, and the first area is wide open but the stairs up to the main area was narrow and they only opened half of them. needless to say, it was crowded and seemed poorly managed. they let people up a certain amount at a time but that didn't solve the initial crowding. all it needed was some velvet rope to funnel the people properly.
so you survive the crowd, get up the stairs and make your way to yet another queue. but ahead is the main building.
some familiar advertising if you watched coverage from other sites.
the plan was to go straight to the merchandise areas. the main Sony, Capcom (because of the New 3DS and Monster Hunter 4G) areas had huge amounts of people heading there, but even right at the beginning,the merchandise stands got very busy quickly. it looks like open spaces, but after a couple of hours even this area would be crowded.the BIGGEST issue was how short stocked many stores would be. i head straight for the Square Enix music stall.
nope, that isn't what they were selling. it was a cool display to look at, there's several albums there i already have. but by the time i got to the checkout they had already sold out of 2 albums. that was within the first 15 minutes. so yes, it was pretty ridiculous. a common theme of all but one booth throughout TGS was that initially they look cool, but rarely were they actually well designed for crowds. there was another Square Enix store where you had to queue to view the stock. none of it was visible to the public. you had to queue, to look round a store where you might not even buy anything! again it looked cool, but it wasn't really practical. thankfully there were some helpful staff around trying the best they could to keep people up to date with stock.
i did manage to come away with an album i wanted so i was happy. by the time i got through the queue and wanted to head to where the game companies were...it was busy. the merchandise was the far left side, by the time i got to the far right, it was getting uncomfortably busy. granted, by the time i got to the far right side, Konami were holding an event with Kojima and Yoshida where they revealed the Little Big Planet Costumes.
the staff were struggling to hold back the queues. all they had was rope. they were trying a failing. it was a common theme unfortunately. enroute to the right side, i visited Square Enix, the crowd around the theater was just enormous. it worked out better to walk closer to Sony's Indie, or i should say the Indie section sponsored by Sony, and watch it clearer from there. nearby, Capcom were holding a session where they were showing off the new old Resident Evil. i'm not a fan of the games and i can't speak much Japanese, but it was genuinely fascinating. again, staff and rope struggled to hold back the crowds, stop them merging with the crowds from Square Enix. but i won't get the game. it looked good, the changes they've made look good. but it plays like a PlayStation One game and it just looked antiquated against modern games...and not in a good way. it just didn't look fun and many in the crowd didn't look that happy with the gameplay either.
a live demo i enjoyed watching was the Battlefield Hardline show. it had two teams fighting whilst doing stuff that showed off the tech. the crowd wasn't as big as Capcom, but they were very interested in it and clapped and cheered. lol, now i'm not saying it's going to be a surprise hit in Japan, but it was a better designed stage that meant many people could watch the action and what they showed generated interest.
but by far the best designed booth was Sony's PlayStation booth. they had many games to play and many tvs to watch trailers on. it wasn't just square in shape, it used the space smartly to section it into different games and to manage the queuing system. but the most impressive and yet sad thing about it was that it was the only booth to use height. there were two floors, which means there were more opportunities for people to play games. it just looked like a booth designed for people to watch, people to play, and for Sony to advertise many games coming.
Microsoft was there. and even it was busy. not Sony, Square Enix, Capcom, or Konami busy, but because of it's poor design it always looked busy even though it was mostly people queuing. they were giving out vouchers for the Xbox One too, but it wasn't that flexible.
2,000 yen off is ok, but you had only until Sunday to buy it and only at these stores.
hopefully the videos show how busy it was.
but like i said, i still had fun. sure it wasn't great, but for my first time ever at a game show i still had fun. but i left around 3.30pm. the truth is, i wasn't prepared to queue over an hour for anything and that put it all out of reach. i saw queue's over 2 hours long. there were people sitting in their lines reading books! i walked back to the left to see what stock was left in the merchandise section and it was pretty poor. stores like Konami were practically empty. i didn't go Sunday and i wonder what stock they had left for that day.
one thing that took a while to get used to, apart from the boob stand thing for that game i can't spell, was the cosplay and how obsessed people were with taking pictures of them. it wasn't even just in the halls. this picture is taken outside and shows an area dedicated to people taking pictures of cosplayers.
on one hand it's a foreign concept, but on another it was a little unsettling. it's hard not to be impressed with them. some of the cosplay was just stunning. it was just uncomfortable how much people wanted to take pictures of them and how rude they would become to get the shot.
what was fun to see was the props and models all around the show. we have the famous sheep on a balloon from Konami. but there were cool models and props all over the show.
the stage show took place next to the exit to the main Tokyo Game Show area. i didn't regonise the game they were playing whilst we were waiting for the show to open and for them to let us in, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it and they didn't seem to mind people taking videos and pictures. unfortunately, this was not common throughout the show. more often than not, you were not able to take pictures or videos and there was certainly staff on the look out to stop you if you do.
but the wait was long, and the first area is wide open but the stairs up to the main area was narrow and they only opened half of them. needless to say, it was crowded and seemed poorly managed. they let people up a certain amount at a time but that didn't solve the initial crowding. all it needed was some velvet rope to funnel the people properly.
so you survive the crowd, get up the stairs and make your way to yet another queue. but ahead is the main building.
some familiar advertising if you watched coverage from other sites.
the plan was to go straight to the merchandise areas. the main Sony, Capcom (because of the New 3DS and Monster Hunter 4G) areas had huge amounts of people heading there, but even right at the beginning,the merchandise stands got very busy quickly. it looks like open spaces, but after a couple of hours even this area would be crowded.the BIGGEST issue was how short stocked many stores would be. i head straight for the Square Enix music stall.
nope, that isn't what they were selling. it was a cool display to look at, there's several albums there i already have. but by the time i got to the checkout they had already sold out of 2 albums. that was within the first 15 minutes. so yes, it was pretty ridiculous. a common theme of all but one booth throughout TGS was that initially they look cool, but rarely were they actually well designed for crowds. there was another Square Enix store where you had to queue to view the stock. none of it was visible to the public. you had to queue, to look round a store where you might not even buy anything! again it looked cool, but it wasn't really practical. thankfully there were some helpful staff around trying the best they could to keep people up to date with stock.
i did manage to come away with an album i wanted so i was happy. by the time i got through the queue and wanted to head to where the game companies were...it was busy. the merchandise was the far left side, by the time i got to the far right, it was getting uncomfortably busy. granted, by the time i got to the far right side, Konami were holding an event with Kojima and Yoshida where they revealed the Little Big Planet Costumes.
the staff were struggling to hold back the queues. all they had was rope. they were trying a failing. it was a common theme unfortunately. enroute to the right side, i visited Square Enix, the crowd around the theater was just enormous. it worked out better to walk closer to Sony's Indie, or i should say the Indie section sponsored by Sony, and watch it clearer from there. nearby, Capcom were holding a session where they were showing off the new old Resident Evil. i'm not a fan of the games and i can't speak much Japanese, but it was genuinely fascinating. again, staff and rope struggled to hold back the crowds, stop them merging with the crowds from Square Enix. but i won't get the game. it looked good, the changes they've made look good. but it plays like a PlayStation One game and it just looked antiquated against modern games...and not in a good way. it just didn't look fun and many in the crowd didn't look that happy with the gameplay either.
a live demo i enjoyed watching was the Battlefield Hardline show. it had two teams fighting whilst doing stuff that showed off the tech. the crowd wasn't as big as Capcom, but they were very interested in it and clapped and cheered. lol, now i'm not saying it's going to be a surprise hit in Japan, but it was a better designed stage that meant many people could watch the action and what they showed generated interest.
Microsoft was there. and even it was busy. not Sony, Square Enix, Capcom, or Konami busy, but because of it's poor design it always looked busy even though it was mostly people queuing. they were giving out vouchers for the Xbox One too, but it wasn't that flexible.
2,000 yen off is ok, but you had only until Sunday to buy it and only at these stores.
hopefully the videos show how busy it was.
but like i said, i still had fun. sure it wasn't great, but for my first time ever at a game show i still had fun. but i left around 3.30pm. the truth is, i wasn't prepared to queue over an hour for anything and that put it all out of reach. i saw queue's over 2 hours long. there were people sitting in their lines reading books! i walked back to the left to see what stock was left in the merchandise section and it was pretty poor. stores like Konami were practically empty. i didn't go Sunday and i wonder what stock they had left for that day.
one thing that took a while to get used to, apart from the boob stand thing for that game i can't spell, was the cosplay and how obsessed people were with taking pictures of them. it wasn't even just in the halls. this picture is taken outside and shows an area dedicated to people taking pictures of cosplayers.
should you go to Tokyo Game Show? if your local, sure thing. it's a great day and and pretty cheap. plus, if you leave early, Tokyo Disney Land (also in Chiba) is a train stop or two on the way back to Tokyo and you can go there and walk round making it a even better day out! i want to go next year, maybe i'll get back to working on the site and go on a press day instead when it's less busy, lol.
i haven't talked too much about the games and stuff. it's all been said before. this is just a post talking about the show itself, think of it like a heads up for those interested in coming or those thinking of going to their first games show. does this signal the grand return of QTE Gamers? it might...it just might!
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